


No Other Way

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Eavesdropping, Hand wavy magic, Hand wavy science, M/M, Nebula & Tony Stark Friendship, Nebula (Marvel) Has Issues, Nebula (Marvel) is a Good Bro, No Endgame Spoilers, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Stephen Strange, Protective Tony Stark, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Spying, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark has PTSD, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family, and thus probably completely incorrect about the soul stone, bucky barnes learns some new unpleasant things about his old friend, but like unintentionally because no one in the soul stone has a choice, last words your soulmate says before they die AU, not team Cap friendly, or at least shades of it anyway, steve rogers is a bully, team civil war iron man, the people on earth don't know they're being watched, tony stark is going through a really rough time here, written before endgame was released
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-01-05 11:37:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: In a world where the last words your soulmate will say before they die are written on your arm, those who died by Thanos's hand are trapped in the Soul Stone, left to watch over those left behind on Earth. The last thing Stephen Strange expects to see is a very memorable sentence on Tony Stark's arm.And when they escape the Soul Stone, it changes everything.





	1. Chapter 1

Being trapped within the Soul Stone was nothing short of weird. There was really no other way to explain it. The people here didn't need to eat or drink or use the bathroom or even sleep. They just... _were_. Sometimes it seemed as though time was barely moving, and seconds could drag by impossibly long. But then, time would seem to speed up and whole days could pass in the span of a few blinks. There was no rhyme or reason to it, though Stephen knew for a fact that many scientists were trying to figure it out. 

They wouldn't. Magic never followed the conventional rules of science, and the magic of the infinity stones were a rule unto themselves.

In the distance came the renewed sound of someone weeping. There had been a lot of that in the beginning. Pain, anger, sadness. Stephen hadn't experienced any of them. He'd known this was going to happen: this had been the outcome in three-quarters of the futures he'd glimpsed, with the remaining quarter being a future where, instead of being transported into the Soul Stone, the souls that Thanos chose to destroy merely ceased to exist. All things considered, Stephen vastly preferred where they were. At least this way, he had some idea of what was happening in the real world.

As though summoned by his thoughts, the clear pool of water beside him suddenly blurred. He turned his head, alert, lowering his gaze to the water. Being able to see into the real world was something that happened at random; so far, he hadn't discovered any way to control it. Based on what other people had told him, as well as his own experiences, the souls trapped here were always shown the lives of those they'd been physically closest to when they were snapped out of existence. In Stephen's case, that meant he had an up close and personal view of Tony Stark's life on occasion.

_"I don't know, Nebula. That just doesn't sound feasible."_

Tony's voice rose from the pool and Stephen breathed out through the twist in his gut, turning to better see. He'd lost track of how long they'd been trapped here, and sometimes watching Tony was the only thing that broke up the monotony. 

_"You're just not being creative enough, Stark."_

_"Excuse you, I'm only trying to obey the laws of science -"_

_"Earth laws of science, I have to point out."_

_"- and magic! Science is science, but magic is a whole other thing. What you're asking for... it just can't be done."_

"Nebula always was stubborn."

Stephen looked up, unsurprised to see Peter Quill and Gamora. Quill was bound to Nebula, and Gamora was always eager to see her sister. Tony and Nebula seemed to spend a lot of time together, which meant that Stephen saw a lot of Quill and Gamora. He shifted aside so that Gamora could crouch down beside him. Quill lingered beside her, trying and failing to pretend that he wasn't just as interested in watching what was happening.

_"I think you're just scared," Nebula said. She pointed at Tony. "You could learn magic if you wanted to."_

_Tony threw his hands up. "For the love of - I am not a sorcerer, okay, stop trying to make it sound like I could just walk into the sanctum and pick up a book and start making freaky things happen!"_

_"Couldn't you?" Nebula said. "Would they stop you? Especially now that you know -"_

_"That's not the point,” Tony said, cutting her off._

_"I disagree."_

_"Well then why don't you make magic happen!" Tony yelled._

_Nebula's expression screamed superiority as she gestured to herself. "Cyborg. Magic and machines don't mix. Human." She pointed again at Tony. "Humans and magic mix just fine."_

_"Ugh, I am not having this conversation again."_

The pool went fizzy around thee dges. Stephen stared, unblinking, hoping for more, but when the water cleared there was nothing to be seen. He tried not to sigh too loudly. Sometimes he got to see whole days, even whole _weeks_ , but sometimes it could be like this too. Limited to just a tantalizing glimpse of what was clearly part of an on-going conversation. It was incredibly frustrating, like only getting to read the occasional page of a book instead of being able to read the whole thing. It made it hard to grasp the context and subtext of any conversations he happened to see.

Especially since he couldn't always be certain that what he saw was happening in any sort of chronological order. The last thing he saw was Tony eating breakfast with May Parker. Did that happen before or after Tony's conversation with Nebula? It was often impossible to tell.

"Did I miss one?" Peter asked, jogging up behind Quill and Gamora. "I felt that weird pull again, but it's gone now."

"It wasn't anything important," Stephen said. Peter was bound to Tony as well, and seemed to take both delight and comfort in watching his mentor, particularly when Tony was around May. 

"No closer to getting us out of here, huh?" Peter said glumly, crouching down to stick his fingers in the pool.

"How would you even be able to tell?" Quill asked, cocking his head to the side. "I don't know about you two, but whatever I see of Nebula rarely makes any sense."

"Same," Peter said, pouting. "But I'd hoped. I'm going to be so far behind by the time I get out of here."

"Half the world is here. I'm sure your teachers won't hold it against you," Stephen said reassuringly. He actually couldn't be sure of that at all, but after spending god knows how long in Peter's company, he'd come to care for the boy almost against his will. He wasn't made of stone; he could only watch Peter cry for his aunt and Tony so many times without softening.

Quill doubled over suddenly, clutching at his midsection. "Shit! I feel it again."

"So soon?" Gamora said, frowning. She grabbed Quill's arm to steady him and led him away with barely a nod to Stephen and Peter. Stephen watched them go, unsurprised to see them heading for Drax, Groot and Mantis. The visions of the real world, as they'd come to be known, were almost always the longest when everyone who was bonded to that living person were gathered near. Nebula had a lot of people watching over her, whether she knew it or not.

"Was it about magic?" Peter asked, drawing Stephen's attention back to him. 

"How did you guess?" Stephen said, curious.

"I saw a vision last week where Tony was talking to Wong."

Stephen frowned. "You didn't tell me that."

"It didn't seem like it was important, honestly. I figured Tony was just doing some research. He was asking about you and the stones."

"Was he?" Stephen murmured, frown deepening. Some time ago - he couldn't have said how long - he and Peter had watched a long conversation between Tony and Christine Palmer. Tony had been pressing her for information about Stephen. He couldn't decide if he was annoyed that she had told Tony everything she knew. Christine wasn't the kind of person to share intimate details like that without a reason, so Stephen assumed there was more to the conversation than what he'd been shown.

That was another frustrating thing about the visions: sometimes they began during what was clearly mid-conversation, making it even more impossible to understand. Sometimes he thought that watching the visions was the way to madness, but what else could they do? When one formed, the painful tugging in your gut was hard to ignore. And the urge to know even scraps of information about the real world was too much to pass up. The visions were the only connection they had to life outside the Soul Stone: the only proof they all had that they hadn't been forgotten.

Peter shrugged. "Yeah, but I only got to see a few minutes before it faded." He blew out a frustrated breath, running his hands through his hair. "And next time I saw him, it was that time he was having a fight with Rogers."

Ah, yes. Stephen allowed himself a smile at the memory. He hadn't been surprised that the Rogues had been invited back to the United States following the Snap, because chances were high that Earth was barely holding it together. But anyone who watched Tony for even five minutes knew that Tony wasn't happy about their presence. Stephen couldn't blame him; both he and Peter had been witnesses to the nightmares that Tony had, wherein Tony woke up screaming and flailing in an effort to protect himself against an invisible attacker - one that was often named Steve.

Bucky Barnes had been there for that one too, because he was bound to Rogers. All three of them had watched in silence as Tony yelled himself hoarse at Rogers, accusing Rogers of caring more about being a hero than caring about the people who were gone, culminating in Tony throwing a bottle of wine at Rogers' head and storming out of the room. Rogers had just stood there without saying a word. Stephen wasn't sure what that meant, but the way Barnes how frowned while watching told him it wasn't necessarily a good thing. He doubted that Rogers had taken in a single world that Tony had said. Of that, Stephen was positive.

Whatever Tony was doing to rescue them, he was doing it without the help of the Rogues.

"He's my soulmate," Barnes had said with a deeply weary look. "But that doesn't mean he's got anyone's best interests at heart, even mine."

"I feel bad for him," Peter went on. "Tony is trying to do something, but he keeps running into red tape and people who want to stop him. Don't they want us back?" He looked up at Stephen imploringly.

Stephen sighed. "Of course they do, Peter," he said, resting a hand on Peter's shoulder. "But they don't even fully understand what happened. Not even we do, and we're the ones who are in here!" He cast an arm out to indicate the realm. "They're... scared. Scared of making things worse. Of losing more people. Some of them probably don't believe that we can be saved."

Peter bit his lip, wrapping his arms around himself. "So... do you think that means we'll be stuck here forever?"

"I don't know," Stephen admitted. "But I do think that Tony will never give up on trying to save us. Especially you. He really cares about you, Peter."

"Yeah," Peter said quietly, half-turning away. He was looking at the Guardians, who were still gathered a short distance away. Whatever they were watching had captured their attention completely, to the point where not even Mantis reacted to being watched. 

They both felt it at the same time, a tug in their guts that was impossible to ignore. Stephen had tried once, out of pure curiosity, and found that ignoring the vision quickly grew unbelievably painful. He'd been left on the ground, gasping from the pain that was radiating through him. Curiosity wasn't the only thing that kept them watching. He and Peter obediently turned, looking back down at the pool of water. 

It was immediately obvious that some time had passed. Tony was alone now, sitting in a corner of his bedroom. A bottle of whiskey was sitting beside him. He picked it up and took a long swig, then lowered the bottle and wiped the back of his mouth with his arm. Stephen caught a glimpse of black writing on Tony's arm and felt his stomach turn over. He hadn't known that Tony had found his soul mate (there was so much he hadn't, still didn't, know about Tony Stark) but he found himself pitying Tony in that moment. The only way to find your soulmate on Earth was to hear the last words they spoke to you before their death, and have those words match the words written on your from your birth. Having the words on your arm turn black was never a celebrated occasion.

_"I just can't," Tony whispered._

Stephen wasn't sure who he was speaking to; it looked as though Tony was alone for once. But then, as he watched Tony roll up his sleeve and reveal the blackened words on his arm for the first time, a horrible kind of understanding stole over him. He rocked back on his heels, horrified, unable to take his eyes off those six words. Six terribly familiar words.

**Tony, there was no other way.**


	2. Chapter 2

Tony Stark was tired. As he stood in the midst of the battlefield and gazed down at the remains of Thanos’s body, that was the only thought running through his mind. And it really wasn’t even a thought so much as a bone-deep exhaustion that had him swaying where he stood. He might’ve even sunk to his knees had it not been for the armor, which kept him thankfully upright.

Then, suddenly, Thanos rolled over. His hands reached out and groped around until they found his head, which Thor had helpfully detached from the body, and picked it up. Tony watched, frozen in a mixture of horror and disgust, as Thanos fit his head back onto his body. The bloody wound at his neck vanished as Thanos stood, lifted his fists, and lunged at Tony –

“Oh my god!” Tony woke with a cry, jerking upright in his bed. He looked frantically around the room, but of course there was no purple titan trying to kill him. Thanos was dead, and had been for two weeks now. He was dead, Tony reminded himself, trying to stop shaking. _He was dead_.

“Boss, are you okay?” FRIDAY asked.

“I’m fine,” Tony said hoarsely, shuddering. Fourteen nights now he’d been woken from sleep by horrible nightmares wherein they lost. It was getting to the point where he didn’t want to bother with sleeping anymore, though of course that wasn’t really an option.

He pressed a hand to the arc reactor that thrummed in his chest. That had been Bruce’s idea; the arc reactor had resisted the effect of the Tesseract when Loki tried to use it against Tony in the Battle of New York. Bruce had theorized that the arc reactor might protect Tony, at least to some extent, against the other Infinity Stones. It was a theory that had panned out, though unfortunately it meant Tony was stuck with the reactor again.

Tonight, even though it meant he had a harder time catching his breath, he didn’t mind. The comforting blue light was so familiar, and it helped to calm his pounding heart. He forced himself to inhale and exhale to the count of seven, fixing happy images in his mind. Specifically, the smile on Peter Parker’s face when he’d been reunited with his aunt. May had fallen to her knees and wept with gratitude over the return of her nephew, but Peter had just smiled from ear to ear. 

When he was no longer in danger of hyperventilating, he pushed the covers aside and slid off the bed. His knees were weak but he didn’t fall over, which he counted as a win. It was just after 4am according to his phone, which he swiped of his nightstand as he moved past. He slid on his housecoat, wrapping the ends over the arc reactor, and padded out into the tower.

It was quiet, but Tony would have expected no less. Pepper didn’t live him with anymore; their relationship had ended after the Decimation. Even though she said she’d understood, he knew she’d never really forgiven him for climbing aboard that spaceship. And that was fair, Tony thought. He hadn’t called her, or even given her a second thought until he, Peter and Strange were on their way to Titan, and by then it had been too late. Pepper had told him before that she couldn’t deal with a boyfriend who constantly put himself in that kind of danger, and this time she’d held firm. It was over.

Nebula had stayed with him for a long time, but after the Guardians, including Gamora, had returned, she’d decided to go into space with them. Tony wasn’t sure whether she would be back or not – Nebula said that she would, because she seemed happy with the life she’d started making on Earth, but now her sister was back so Tony had his doubts. Nebula had missed Gamora a lot.

And so, with the Avengers settled in at the Compound, that meant Tony was in the tower by himself. He found he didn’t mind as much as he would have guessed. He missed Nebula, but he didn’t begrudge her decision to go into space. Part of him still missed the days where the Avengers had been a team – sort of – but he could admit to himself now that he wouldn’t have enjoyed having them here. He might have fought alongside them in battle because he had to, but he still flinched whenever Rogers or Maximoff got too close and things were just too tense.

Whatever chance they’d had of being a team before was gone now. It didn’t matter what happened, or what kind of deal Rogers and his crew worked out with the Accords Council. Tony couldn’t be on the same team as them. Even if it meant he wasn’t an Avenger anymore, much as he hated to even _think_ about that, it might just be time to give that dream up and separate himself once and for all.

Though what that would mean for Tony… he didn’t know. His future stretched before him, wide and chillingly empty. He’d never been at such a loss before. When he was kidnapped in Afghanistan, he’d come back to New York knowing that he wanted to do something to stop the Ten Rings. Being Iron Man had been his driving force for the past several years. He just didn’t know if he could still be Iron Man if it meant working in close proximity to Roger and Maximoff. 

He settled himself on the couch and turned on the television for some mindless background noise, then took out his tablet to do some work. The hours slipped by without Tony being aware of it, until the growling of his stomach broke through his concentration. He lifted his head to find that the sun had risen while he was preoccupied, and that it was now late in the morning.

“FRIDAY, order me some breakfast, would you?” Tony said, stretching.

“Where from, Boss?” FRIDAY asked.

Tony considered that for a moment. “Actually, you know what, I’m going to go out. I could use some fresh air.”

He got up and returned to the bedroom to dress, pulling on sunglasses and a ball cap too. He wasn’t as worried about being recognized right now, though. While the world acknowledged that Iron Man had played a part in Thanos’s defeat, no one was aware of just how much Tony had done. And he was okay with that. Even if it meant that too much credit went to Rogers, it was fine.

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and bowed his head, setting a quick pace down the sidewalk (it was still weird to see how crowded they were, when for weeks there had been next to no one around). He was trying to decide if he just wanted to hit up the closest fast food place or settle for a greasy diner when a hand fell on his shoulder.

“Tony?”

It was only his recognition of the voice, and the way the words on his arm seemed to _burn_ , that stopped Tony from throwing a punch. He froze instead, heart finding a new home in his throat, and that gave Stephen Strange enough time to step in front of him. Strange looked good; he was wearing jeans and a leather jacket that fit his tall, thin frame _very_ well.

“It is you,” Strange said, smiling. “I was on my way to the tower to see you.”

“Strange, hi,” Tony croaked. His mouth was suddenly painfully dry. He licked his lips to moisten them and tried to make his dumb brain crank out something better than ‘hi’, but it remained frustratingly blank and he ended up just staring at Strange like a weirdo.

Strange’s smile broadened as though Tony had told him a spectacular joke. “Were you on your way to get breakfast?”

“Uh – yeah, I was,” Tony said. Okay, that was a full sentence. Three words counted as a sentence, right?

“Would you mind if I joined you?”

Tony blinked in surprise. “I wasn’t going anywhere special.”

“That’s alright. I know a small diner that serves excellent omelets,” Strange said.

“Sure,” Tony said, shrugging. He wasn’t about to say no, even though he knew that Strange was the last person he should be spending time with right now. He hadn’t quite come to terms with the fact that they were soulmates yet, and he definitely hadn’t decided whether or not he was going to tell Strange that.

On the one hand, most people went their whole lives without knowing who their soulmate was until that person died. Finding your soulmate and actually getting the chance to be together, or even friends, was something rare, and it seemed foolish to give that up. On the other hand, he and Strange didn’t know each other that well. Tony had tried to find out more about Stephen Strange after the Decimation by visiting his whole friends and coworkers, but it hadn’t really worked that well.

Facts and details could only tell you so much about a person, after all. Besides, there was also the fact that Tony was Tony. Few people would want to be saddled with Tony Stark as a soulmate, not unless they wanted money or fame or his brain. Those were the top three reasons people wanted something from Tony, and he couldn’t see those three things being very attractive to someone like Strange.

“It’s this way,” Strange said, indicating the opposite direction. Tony obediently turned and fell into step beside him.

“So, how’s life been since you returned?” Tony asked. It seemed to be a safe enough topic of conversation. Everyone had a story to tell about that, after all.

“Odd. Getting used to needing to do things like eating and sleeping has been harder than I would’ve thought,” said Strange.

Tony smiled slightly. “It must have been weird, being in stasis like that. And boring… though I know you could see snippets of the real world.” He’d heard that much from other eyewitness accounts. “Peter told me that you and him could see me sometimes?”

Strange nodded. “That’s correct. So far as I can figure, it was based around the person who you were physically closest to when we disappeared.”

That was awkward. Tony had almost been hoping that Peter had been wrong, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. He rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to decide how best to phrase this. There had been many moments over the past several weeks that he desperately hoped no one else had seen. He hadn’t had the courage to press Peter for more details, because he honestly didn’t know what he would do if they had watched him crying or getting drunk until he passed out or any of the other dozens of things that Tony wasn’t proud of.

Finally, he said, “Look, I’m sure you saw some stuff that was both private and confidential. I have to ask that you not share anything you saw, especially in the case of company secrets.”

“Of course!” Strange said at once. “I’ll sign anything you need me to if that would make you feel more comfortable.”

Tony nodded, relaxing. “I have a standard confidentiality agreement for my employees. I’ll have my lawyer amend it and send it over to you. Sorry, it’s just –”

“Tony, it’s your company and intellectual property. Of course you’re concerned. It’s not like you got a say in whether or not I was essentially eavesdropping on you,” Strange said.

Tony looked at him.

Strange raised both eyebrows. “What?”

“… Nothing. Nothing,” Tony said, shaking his head. When he’d lived at the Compound with the team, he’d approached Rogers about the team signing confidentiality agreements. Rogers had hit the roof. He’d taken the mere suggestion as a personal insult, and seemed to think that Tony thought the team would go running to the media at the first opportunity.

All of which, as far as Tony was concerned, just proved how little Rogers knew about the time he now lived in. 

Strange looked like he knew very well it wasn’t nothing, but didn’t press the issue. He gestured to a building to their right and said, “Here we are.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't planning to post tonight, but then I saw Endgame. And I realized that this fandom needs all the cheer it can get.

Stephen had thought he might be nervous when he saw Tony again, but he wasn’t. They’d spoken briefly over the past two weeks, but it had rapidly become clear that Tony wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a conversation that started with the words ‘I found out that we’re soulmates because I was being forced to spy on you while you were in an extremely emotionally vulnerable place’.

So he’d kept his distance, and focused his attention on making sure that magic hadn’t gone completely awry on Earth in his absence. There were some mildly concerning situations that he would need to keep an eye on, but he’d been able to handle any fires without too much difficult. The one thing that could be said for Thanos was that he hadn’t discriminated when killing people, and that meant several criminals had been done away with as well.

He wasn’t sure if Tony was aware of it, but he had also kept in touch with Peter. By all accounts Peter was doing well, and adjusting better than many of his classmates – Peter’s texts were frequently filled with rambling accounts of how poorly some of his classmates were handling everything that had happened. Even some of his teachers, Peter said, had not come back for the semester, and the school year was pretty much a right off at this point. How that would affect graduation numbers was anyone’s guess.

Since Peter seemed like a relatively safe topic of conversation, after they had placed their orders, Stephen turned to Tony and said, “Peter seems to be doing okay.”

Surprise flashed across Tony’s face. “You’ve kept in touch with Peter?”

“We text,” Stephen said, holding his Starkphone up. He would never admit it to Tony, but he used to own an iPhone. A day after coming back to life, he’d hit up the nearest cell phone store and switched to a Starkphone. Peter had teased him mercilessly about it, but Stephen was pretty sure that Tony wouldn’t take lightly to anyone in his life owning another company’s electronic merchandise.

“Peter didn’t tell me that,” Tony said. He didn’t sound accusatory, more thoughtful. “I text with him too. He likes to let me know how he’s doing throughout the day.”

Stephen wasn’t surprised by that; Peter did the same thing with his aunt, and had openly admitted that he did it so that May would know he hadn’t disappeared again. It was likely that Peter was doing the same thing with Tony, even if Tony hadn’t figured that out yet. Peter was thoughtful like that, and he’d spent the last several months seeing firsthand exactly what his disappearance had done to his aunt and Tony.

“He’s a good boy,” Stephen said softly. 

Tony nodded. “Yeah, he really is. May’s done a fantastic job with him.”

“May’s not the only one,” Stephen pointed out, to which Tony snorted and waved a dismissive hand.

“You mean me? Please. All I’ve done is pull the kid into increasingly more danger,” Tony said.

“That’s not how Peter tells it. We had plenty of time to talk when we were stuck in the Soul Stone. According to Peter, he was already trying to be Spider-Man when you found him. You gave him a better suit and kept an eye on him and tried to teach him to be more careful.”

“I also got him killed,” Tony said flatly.

“That would’ve happened regardless of whether Peter was Spider-Man. Thanos didn’t pick and choose who died,” Stephen said. “Peter never regretted being there on Titan. I know that for a fact.”

For a moment Tony’s face tightened like he was going to yell, or maybe cry. Then his expression smoothed out into a blank mask and he picked up his coffee to take a sip. Stephen was familiar with silence, and it didn’t bother him. He was content to attend to his own cup of tea, filling the mug halfway and then adding sugar and a little milk. It tasted wonderful, fragrant and rich, and he couldn’t help the little sigh of pleasure.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “That good?”

“When you don’t get to taste anything for a long time, you forget how good things can be,” Stephen replied.

“I’ll toast to that,” Tony said, and extended his coffee cup. Stephen hesitated briefly before carefully lifting his own mug. His cheeks warmed as his hand trembled, the tea visibly shaking – there was a reason he’d only filled it halfway, having learned his lesson the hard way when he spilled the contents of more cups than he wanted to think about. But Tony never faltered, only leaned forward to gently tap the rim of their cups together.

Their eyes met. 

“What are we doing here?” Tony asked. “You said you were on your way to the tower to see me.”

He didn’t beat around the bush. Stephen liked that. He smiled nervously. He’d thought a lot about how best to say this; soulmates weren’t generally a happy topic of conversation, and he suspected that Tony would feel no differently than most on the subject. Frankly, after 2009 it was something that Stephen hadn’t tried to pay much attention to. If only he’d known then what he knew now.

“I know, Tony,” he said, as kindly as he could. “Peter and I saw the words on your arm.”

Tony paled incredibly quickly, turning whiter than the stained formica table top they were sitting at. It made the deep, bruised skin beneath his eyes stand out in an awful way. Stephen had to stop himself frowning; he’d already guessed that Tony wasn’t sleeping well just based off of previous data of Tony’s sleeping habits and nightmares, but that was never a good sign. 

“You… you saw,” Tony breathed.

“Yes.” Stephen dropped his gaze to Tony’s arm. It was covered by the coat Tony was wearing at the moment, but he could see the words in his mind’s eye.

Tony tensed and pulled his arm back, hiding it beneath the table. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“We’re soulmates,” Stephen said. Just speaking the word out loud was odd, and he regretted it when he saw the interested look on their waitress’s face as she approached with their food. She set their meals down and lingered for a moment, obviously hoping for more details; a cold look from Stephen sent her scurrying away, and he hastily drew a few runes to ward against eavesdropping, both visually and auditorily. Tony watched him do it in stony silence.

Then, when the air had a faint golden glow to it, Tony said, “You don’t know that. I mean, obviously the connection goes one way… but you can’t know if it’s a full bond.”

“I’ve made an educated guess.” Stephen slid his left arm out of his jacket and unbuttoned his cuff so he could roll his sleeve up. They both looked at the black words on his arm.

**It was good to meet you, Dr. Strange.**

“That’s it?” Tony said, both eyebrows raised. “That’s – anyone could’ve said that.”

“ _Many_ people have said that,” Stephen corrected him. Back when he was a surgeon, he’d enjoyed attending high class parties. He and Tony hadn’t exactly moved in the same circles, but they’d spoken several times: that was before Stark Industries became involved in medical science and equipment, but Tony had always been smart and educated enough to be able to hold an interesting conversation about Stephen’s field, which was frequently something of a novelty at those parties.

He kept looking at the thick, dark letters as he continued, “It’s not the words that matter, but the date. They didn’t turn black until May 17th, 2009, at approximately 5:48am.”

It only took seconds for Tony to do the math, and to draw the obvious conclusion. His jaw tightened, mouth flattening into a thin line. May 17th was the day that Tony Stark had gone missing in Afghanistan. Stephen had done his research well over the past couple of weeks; it was estimated that Tony’s convoy had been attacked around noon Afghanistan time, which meant that the timeline fit. Based on all medical accounts, Tony had flat-lined several times in the surgery that initially saved his life. It explained why Stephen’s arm had turned black on a seemingly innocuous day.

“We’ve both died,” Stephen said quietly. “Which is why we both have black words now. I suppose some romantics might call us lucky.” He lifted his head to look at Tony and attempted a smile, though he was certain that it came across poorly. 

Tony was still very pale. “That’s… holy shit. Holy _shit_.” He sat back in his chair and stared at Stephen in amazement.

“I know. It’s a lot to take in. I thought about telling you over the phone, but… this seemed like a conversation best held in person,” Stephen said. “It took me some time to wrap my own head around it. I never expected to find my soulmate, much less to have the chance to speak with them.”

In fact, with such bland words, he’d spent several years assuming that his soulmate was a patient who’d died either in surgery or after they left the hospital. It was how several of his fellow doctors had met their soulmates. Stephen knew of one woman in particular who’d learned she had her soulmate on her operating table after the patient died and the doctor’s words had filled in.

“This is not the breakfast conversation I was expecting,” Tony said blankly.

“Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell someone. Believe me, I looked. But the record of soulmates actually finding each other, and being able to talk after the fact, are relatively rare.” Stephen rolled his sleeve back down. He was calmer now that the truth was out and Tony hadn’t thrown food at him and fled, or panicked to the point of a heart attack. Both scenarios had been repeating in Stephen’s mind.

“Yeah, I know. I just – I need a moment.” Tony propped his elbows on the table and put his hands over his face. He sat there like that for several minutes. Stephen gave him time, content that no one would be able to see Tony; the spell he had cast meant that no one could see or hear them, and their waitress would just avoid the table.

He looked down at his omelet and took his knife and fork in hand, slicing off a piece. It was delicious, as usual. He was halfway through his meal before he realized Tony was watching him. Stephen met his gaze evenly and lifted another piece to his mouth. For some reason, that made Tony crack a smile. It was small, but it was still a smile and that was probably a win, all things considered.

“Why did you tell me this?” Tony asked.

Stephen blinked. He hadn’t expected that. “Well… you’re my soulmate.”

“I know that. But you’re hardly a romantic, unless there’s a side of you I haven’t seen yet,” Tony said, narrowing his eyes.

“There’s plenty of sides of me that you haven’t seen yet,” Stephen said with a smirk. He hadn’t meant it to be a double entendre, yet Tony sat back and his cheeks finally gained some color by turning a light pink.

“Right. So you’re a closet romantic, then,” Tony said.

“Not at all. I don’t typically buy into the idea of soulmates, just because I know from personal experience how much heart break can lay that way. I’ve seen too many patients end up in the office of my ex-colleagues because of soulmates,” Stephen said grimly. “But… our experience is rather unusual.”

“And so…” Tony looked at him expectantly.

“And so, I’d like to ask you out on a date.”

For the second time that day, Stephen had the experience of seeing Tony dumbstruck. His lips parted but no sound emerged. Stephen finished off his omelet while he waited for Tony to respond. Tony hadn’t touched his food, though he’d drained his cup of coffee. The doctor in Stephen was having a fit about how unhealthy that was, but he knew better than to say anything.

“A date,” Tony said faintly at last. “That’s… _why_?”

“Why?” Stephen echoed. “I would’ve thought you’d been on enough dates to know how it usually went.”

That made Tony scowl. “You want money?” he demanded.

Stephen stared at him. “Not particularly?” While it was true he’d been very tight on money immediately following his accident, he and Wong earned a modest sum of money doing what they did. It helped that the Sanctum was fully paid for, of course, and that electricity, heating, and water costs didn’t come out of their personal pockets.

“It can’t be fame,” Tony said, drumming his fingers on the table. “You can get that on your own if you come out to the world as the Sorcerer Supreme. And hell, you probably will anyway if you become a part of the Avengers. So what, my brain? You need me to make you something?”

“No?” Stephen said, aware that it came out sounding like a question, but he hadn’t expected this and wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Well, it has to be something,” Tony said shrilly. “You might as well tell me now.” He leaned forward, eyes intent. “Go on, Strange, tell me. What is it you want from me?”


	4. Chapter 4

_”I already told you what I want. A date.”_

“I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going.”

“You are absolutely going,” Pepper said without looking up from where she was flipping through her papers. Their meeting was due to start within five minutes, but the other company hadn’t shown up yet.

Tony looked over at her, feeling more than just a little awkward. At what point did talking about dates with your ex-girlfriend stop being weird? “But Pep –”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Tony,” she said, not unkindly. “So the world knows that you’ve got a thing for Dr. Strange? It would’ve come out sooner or later considering that you’re going out on a date with him tonight. And you _are_ going, make no mistake.” She finally lifted her head to pin him with a firm look.

Tony pouted, crossing his arms. It had been three days since his unexpected breakfast with Strange. He still didn’t know how he felt about the fact that they were soulmates, but things had been complicated by an article that the Bugle had released yesterday morning. Whoever had written it had way too much information about how Tony had spent his time during the Decimation; they’d detailed how Tony had visited Christine Palmer several times, and included pictures of Tony and Strange having breakfast.

The article had made it sound like Tony and Strange were secret lovers before the Decimation, not quite suggesting that Tony had been cheating on Pepper with Strange but definitely implying it. Pepper already had their lawyers working on it, and Tony was scheduled for an television appearance tomorrow morning to help off-set the negative press the article had generated. 

“It’s just… complicated,” Tony said finally.

“It’s really not, and you’re going,” she said.

He didn’t get the chance to argue; two other people from the rival company came in, so their meeting began. Tony sat through it with good grace, pretending that he wasn’t bored to tears, and almost cheered when it was finally over. He scrambled to his feet and left in a rush, which he would probably pay for later but right now it was worth it. If he could make it back to the tower, he could call Strange and –

“Hey, Tony!”

Shit. Tony stopped mid-stride, turning to see that Peter was waiting for him outside. Peter was grinning, his eyes twinkling, which told Tony immediately that this was no coincidence. Pepper had most likely texted Peter and told him to come. Tony cursed her inwardly even as he made his way over to the kid, because he couldn’t just leave Peter there on the sidewalk.

“Where were you headed?” Peter asked, all innocence.

“I hate it when you two conspire behind my back,” Tony said grumpily.

“Aw, come on. Don’t be like that. Why don’t you wanna go out with Stephen? He’s awesome,” Peter said, latching on to Tony’s arm. He’d become a lot more physically affectionate since returning from the Soul Stone. Tony couldn’t tell if it was because Peter needed the touch, or if Peter thought _Tony_ need the touching. Since he didn’t want to deny Peter just in case it was the former, Tony was letting it go.

“Is this going to be another talk that ends up sounding like a kid trying to get his parent to date his other parent?” Tony asked, grimacing.

Peter smirked. “Where did you come up with that idea?”

“Maybe because I’ve sat through like three of those talks already?”

With all the determination of a teenager on a mission, Peter ignored that and started walking, dragging Tony along with him, as he said, “I don’t get it. Stephen is really nice and he likes you. I can tell that you like him too. Plus, you’re actual soulmates! Like, that is just the coolest thing ever!”

“It’s really not,” Tony said half-heartedly. He couldn’t tell Pepper or Peter why he was reluctant, though Pepper probably already knew or had at least guessed. He was scared. Scared of what might happen if things went well. Scared of what this could mean. Scared of trying again, with his _soulmate_ no less, and having it fail. 

“It really is. And you know, Stephen watched you for as long as I did,” Peter added. “He’s already seen how grumpy you can get, and he still wants to date you. Isn’t that a good thing?”

Tony hadn’t quite thought about it like that, and he found that he didn’t know what to say. Peter hadn’t explicitly told him what he and Strange had seen while they were watching over Tony, but every now and then he’d make a seemingly innocuous comment that led Tony to believe that they’d seen a lot. Probably more than Tony would ever be comfortable with if Peter did tell him everything.

So what did that mean?

Peter looked up at him knowingly and edged closer, hugging Tony’s arm now. “It’ll be fine, I promise. I wouldn’t let you go out with him if Stephen wasn’t a good guy.”

“Oh, so now you get a say in who I date?” Tony asked, finding his voice.

“Of course I do. You’re like my dad. You wouldn’t date anyone I didn’t want you to date,” Peter said smugly. 

“You don’t know that,” Tony said half-heartedly, but it came out kind of thick. It did strange things to his heart to hear Peter refer to him that way. And it was, of course, total bullshit and they both knew it.

“Actually, I do,” Peter replied. “And luckily for you, I really like Stephen.”

“I’m starting to feel ganged up on,” Tony said, knowing he’d already lost. Not that he’d been fighting very hard. It wasn’t easy to find someone that Pepper, Rhodey _and_ Peter all approved of. Plus, someone who had probably already seen the worst of Tony Stark and wanted to date him anyway? Christine had convinced him that Stephen was only human, but Tony was starting to wonder.

He treated Peter to lunch in Central Park, buying them hot dogs and ice cream as they walked slowly back to the tower. Peter was all chatter, talking about how things had been going at school now that he’d missed so much time. He wasn’t the only one in that boat, and the school was figuring things out slowly. So far it seemed like Peter, and all the other students who’d vanished, were going to be a year behind.

Peter wasn’t as upset about that as Tony might have guessed, probably because his best friend Ned was in the same boat. And so was a girl that Peter would refer to only by the name of MJ; Tony already knew who she was, because he’d done background checks on all the people Peter was in contact with, but it was incredibly funny to see the way Peter stuttered and blushed when Tony asked him questions about MJ. Peter took the teasing with good grace, only pouting a little.

By the time they made it back to the tower, it was late in the afternoon and Peter extracted an offer to stay the night in exchange for promising to work on his homework for the next couple of hours. May was, Tony knew, working the night shift tonight, and she always liked it when Peter stayed at the tower on those nights, so he would’ve let the kid stay regardless. He was pretty sure Peter knew that.

He also thought it meant he could get dressed alone, but apparently not.

“Don’t wear that. That’s old.”

“Excuse you, I am not old.”

“Aren’t you like sixty?” Peter asked.

Tony gasped. “That’s it. You’re disowned.”

The only reaction Peter gave was a scoff as he disappeared into Tony’s closet. “Aunt May said to make sure you wear these. She said they make you look hot.” Peter wrinkled his nose as he emerged.

“It’s like a conspiracy,” Tony said, exasperated. 

Peter threw the clothes at him. “A conspiracy to see you happy. Get dressed.”

For a moment, Tony seriously considered throwing the clothes back. But he was positive Peter would return them, probably with an extra dose of webbing for good measure, and he didn’t want to have to shower again. So he grabbed the clothes, sniffed imperiously, and marched into the bathroom. The sound of Peter’s laughter behind him made him smile.

Rhodey called while Tony was getting dressed; their conversation didn’t last long, because Tony hung up on him after Rhodey burst into laughter at hearing Peter knock on the door and demand to know if Tony was ready. He scowled to himself and pulled on the tight jeans and shirt that May, apparently, had picked out. The button-up crimson shirt had been tailored to fit him perfectly. He left the top two buttons undone on purpose and threw the door, striking a pose.

“Tell me the truth. On a scale of one to ten, how sexy do I look?”

“Ew,” Peter whined. “Could you not?”

“I’m just looking for your opinion! You said they make me look hot!” Tony said, smirking.

“I said _Aunt May_ said that, and I wanted to bleach my ears after she said it,” Peter muttered, giving a dramatic shudder. 

“So you don’t want me to look hot for Strange?” Tony said. 

“I want you to stop talking!”

Luckily for Peter, FRIDAY piped up to stay that Strange was at the door. Looking relieved, Peter ran out of the room. Tony chuckled to himself and grabbed a jacket, pulling it on. He had to admit that he felt a lot calmer now after spending time with Peter. There was just something about the kid that was infectious in a good way. He’d have to thank Pepper later for having the foresight to text Peter.

He walked out and froze when he saw Strange, because no one had prepared him for how _good_ the man would look dressed in well-fitting jeans and a royal blue shirt that brought out the blue in his grey eyes – not that Tony knew exactly what color Strange’s eyes were, of course not. But that didn’t detract from the fact that Stephen Strange was one good-looking guy.

Even more than that, it filled Tony’s heart with warmth to see the way Strange was smiling and avidly listening to Peter as Peter spoke. There was probably more truth to the whole ‘kid trying to set his parents up’ than Tony or Peter wanted to admit. At least Peter wasn’t trying to set Tony up with May. As pretty as May was, he wasn’t so sure that was a good idea.

“Hi,” Tony said, drawing attention back to himself. Just to be a shit and mess with Peter, he batted his eyelashes. “Settle a bet for me. How hot do I look right now?”

Peter groaned loudly. “Oh my god.”

Strange’s eyes flicked between them and then he grinned. “I think you look absolutely smoking,” he purred, and wow. Okay, that deep voice might have made Tony a little weak at the knees.

“Ewwwww,” Peter moaned, clapping his hands over his ears. “That’s disgusting.”

“Why thank you,” Tony said, ignoring Peter. “You look pretty damn fine yourself.”

“That’s it, I’m out before I get scarred for life!” Peter fled into the kitchen. Tony cackled.

“Thanks for that,” he said, pulling his jacket on.

“Oh, I was being serious,” Strange said with a slow smile. A shiver ran up Tony’s spine and he hastily zipped his jacket up.

“Where are we heading?” he asked, hoping that Strange wouldn’t notice how flustered he was. He hadn’t felt like for a long time. With Pepper, everything was comfortable and easy. By the time they’d actually started dating, he’d known everything there was to know about Pepper Potts. And that meant the element of uncertainty, of _surprise_ , had been missing.

“If you’re amenable to traveling through a portal, I thought we might go outside New York. Less chance of either of us, especially you, being noticed that way,” Strange said.

Tony thought about it. He still didn’t like portals, but he figured he’d be okay. “Yeah, sure.”

Strange moved his hands. Tony watched with fascination as the golden sparks formed around his fingers, falling down into a graceful arc before them that eventually formed into a portal. His stomach lurched uncomfortably at the sight of it, but at least it wasn’t space on the other side. No, it looked very much like a street in Italy that Tony was vaguely familiar with.

“Shall we?” Strange asked, offering his arm.

“Sure,” Tony said, taking it. They stepped through together. A few people were staring, obviously curious about the portal that had mysteriously formed in the middle of the street, but then the portal closed behind them and they were nothing more than another couple of tourists in a crowd.

It turned out that Strange spoke fluent Italian, and that the lyrical language sounded even better than English. Tony was entirely too happy to let Strange order for him at supper. They spoke of lighter topics, keeping well away from things like the Infinity Stones or the fact that they were soulmates. It was interesting to hear Strange talk about the Sanctum in more personal terms; Tony, meanwhile, couldn’t help delighting in the fact that when he spoke about his work, Strange actually listened instead of brushing him off.

When dinner was over, they mutually agreed to just wander the streets for a while. It had been some time since Tony had been to Italy, and even longer since he’d come for anything other than business. He’d almost forgotten how nice it could be to just casually walk around and drink in the sights. Home, and all the stresses that went with it, seemed like a long ways away.

“That power of yours is pretty handy,” he said finally, breaking the pleasant silence.

“It is nice being able to skip the flights,” Strange agreed. “The bad part is, pizza in New York just doesn’t compare anymore.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. There’s some pretty awesome pizza out there,” Tony replied. He thought back to their earlier conversation at the diner and added, “I think you were wrong. You are a closet romantic.”

Strange laughed. “Well, maybe. There is something to be said for ambiance.”

Tony stopped walking. His heart was fluttering, but for once he suspected it had very little to do with his on-going heart condition and everything to do with the man standing next to him. It was still scary to think about the possibility that Strange could become someone else in a long line of betrayals. Likewise, it was scary to think about taking the plunge and having it not work out.

But standing here with Strange, knowing that pretty much everyone who mattered thought this was a good idea, it wasn’t _quite_ as scary as it had been. Tony found himself very glad that he here, and that he hadn’t chickened out of the date after all. Here was someone who didn’t have need of his money, brain or fame, so maybe he could let himself believe that Strange’s motives were above board.

He turned to Strange, ready to speak, only to find the words dying on his tongue when their eyes met. Strange was staring at him with such intensity that it would’ve been unnerving coming from anyone else – but coming from Strange, it wasn’t. Tony licked his lips unconsciously and smiled when he watched Strange’s eyes track the movement; Strange’s eyes snapped back up to meet his, and then he smiled too.

They moved in at the same time, Strange bending his head and Tony arching his neck. Their lips met in a soft, chaste kiss. Strange paused, cocking his head like he was asking for permission. Tony granted in by reaching up and tangling his fingers into Strange’s hair, pulling him down into a _real_ kiss. Strange’s arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him close.

The next morning, Tony was very pleased to go on live television and announce to the world that he and Dr. Stephen Strange were officially dating.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
